Over the past year, educational standards have fallen like a rodeo cowboy. It’s not your fault. The pandemic has taken a toll on everything in its wake. But now that students are returning to school, how do we lift the bar back into place? … Read more
Word on the street is that many teachers are surprised by the misbehavior they’re seeing now that more and more students are returning to school. They shouldn’t be. After all, the students you saw online aren’t the same ones you’re seeing in person. Oh, … Read more
You can call it time-out, time away, observation mode or anything you like, but the way you send a student there matters. Far more than most teachers realize. It can be the difference between an easy and effective process and a stress-filled waste of … Read more
Here at SCM, we’ve talked a lot about the Law of Reciprocity and its remarkable power to influence student behavior. But we haven’t talked about what it looks like in practice. How exactly do you do it? What do you say? How do you … Read more
Now that many schools are open for in-person learning, teachers are finding it difficult to build rapport. Social distancing and plexiglass partitions are barrier enough to the connections needed to motivate, inspire, and communicate with students effectively. But it’s mask wearing that takes the … Read more
Many school districts are racing to remove student accountability. Time-out is being outlawed. Suspensions are becoming a no-no. And rules are now mere suggestions and open to wide interpretation. The result, of course, is a worsening of behavior. Remove accountability and bullying, rudeness, disrespect, … Read more
Time-out is a symbolic as well as physical separation from the class students enjoy being part of. This is key. Because if a misbehaving student doesn’t feel like they’re missing something, if they don’t care whether they’re in time-out or not, then it won’t … Read more
Trapped and muted. Dreams shattered into pieces. Forced inside and away from the friendships that mean so much to them and the school that centers their life. Our students are hurting. So what do you say to them? How do you ease their pain? … Read more